As GitLab has grown, various teams have developed several programs and initiatives to engage and recognize the wider GitLab community. These include programs like GitLab Heroes, Core team, MVPs, and Contributors. We propose combining aspects of all these programs to create a single, unified contributor program that more adequately recognizes the wider community contributions that are vital to GitLab's success.
By consolidating contributor programs as part of GitLab's Developer Relations team, we now have the opportunity to take a more consistent and strategic approach to community programs by aligning requirements, recognition, incentives, and rewards. This will help us foster a more dynamic and engaged community of GitLab contributors and evangelists. To that end, we plan to:
We propose the following phases of work consolidating existing initiatives into a single program with clear requirements and benefits:
Developer Relations is currently responsible for overseeing five programs, each with its own goals, means of encouraging contributors to reach those goals, and forms of recognition and rewards for achieving those goals.
| Name of program | Goal | Benefits & Rewards | Handbook Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heroes | Evangelizing GitLab by speaking, demoing, giving talks, writing blogs, … | Invites to GitLab events, Ultimate licenses, Swag | https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/community-relations/evangelist-program/#gitlab-heroes |
| Meetup Organizers | Support meetup organizers so that GitLab can be evangelized & GitLab Heroes have a stage to talk from. | Meetup Expenses, Swag | https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/community-relations/evangelist-program/#meetups |
| Code Contributors Hackathon, MVP, 1st MR Merged code contributors |
Support & grow the number of code contributors as described in our company strategy in order for our dual-flywheel to go faster. | Swag | https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/developer-relations/contributor-success/ |
| Leading Organizations | The GitLab Leading Organization program supports this mission by recognizing and incentivizing organizations and individuals who are among our most active contributors. | Consultant Contributor for organizations > 100K ARR, SLO on review time, Legal Advice, Certificate of achievement | https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/community-relations/leading-organizations/ |
| Core Team | The mission of the core team is to act as a steward for the wider GitLab community and help GitLab live up to its mission and values. | Limited Slack Access, Developer Role in gitlab-org, Team Page listing, Ultimate license, JetBrains license, GitLab event sponsored access, Swag | https://about.gitlab.com/community/core-team/ |
The current configuration of programs currently offers no clear, predictable path for community members to recognize and reward non-code contributions. Such contributions may include:
Recognizing such contributions is critical for building a well-rounded and engaged community. As Klint Finley writes:
It's also crucial to elevate and appreciate non-code contributors. This not only helps keep current contributors motivated but also helps attract new contributors.
Fostering these contributions is also important for building a more resilient and innovative project and community. As John E. Picozzi writes:
For example a marketing person will likely have different experiences and perspectives than a developer. Every effort moves open source forward in some way—that's why non-code contribution is essential.
Simply put: without these activities, we would not have a thriving community. But currently we have no clear way to measure community activity, score this activity, and follow up on it from a single source of truth.
Another non-trivial gap is the lack of an explicit diversity and inclusion incentive within the contributor community. We should experiment and develop ideas to increase diversity in our community, attract and retain top contributors from underrepresented groups, and promote a safe and inclusive community.
We aim to keep the spirit of the code contributor program, the GitLab Heroes, Meetups and others, while removing the unique processes around them and unifying those in a single program. Additionally, we are adding support for recognizing non-code contributions.
Contests are used as a way to scale outreach and increase the amount of contributions. Awards are used to increase the perceived value of a contribution.
Award: Contributors of the month
Contest: Hackathon
Contest: Backlog Cleansweep
Code Contribution
Issue comment / author with a linked merged MR
Issue comment / author without a linked merged MR
Bug validation comment
Merge Request comment / author
Note: The points, levels & status can still change.
| Contributor Levels | Requirements | Benefits & Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| New | 2 Contribution Points | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Experienced | 20 Contribution Points | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Hero | 50 Contribution Points | Achievement on profile, Tier 3 swag coupon, 1 GitLab Ultimate License for personal use |
| Leading Scores can be combined within an organization, Formerly known as Leading Organization | 30 Contribution Points in the last 3 months, Evaluated per quarter | Achievement on profile, wag, 4 day SLO time to get a review/feedback on authored MRs |
| Core | after approval, Individual basis only, 120 Contribution Points, Election process | Achievement on profile, Swag, 1 GitLab Ultimate License for personal use, Slack Access (Requires an NDA to be signed), Developer Permission for GitLab projects |
| Contributor Achievements | Requirements | Benefits & Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Hackathon Winner #1 | First place in the hackathon | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Hackathon Runner up #2 | Second place in the Hackathon | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Contributor of the month (MVP) | Elected by GitLab Team Members | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Contributor Achievements | Requirements | Benefits & Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Bugsmash Winner #1 | First place in the bugsmash | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Bugsmash Runner up #2 | Second place in the bugsmash | Achievement on profile, Swag |
| Contributor of the quarter (MVP) | Elected by GitLab Team Members | Achievement on profile, Swag |
When looking at our total community, we want to cheer for those that spread the word & promote our cause (formerly known as GitLab Heroes & Meetups program), in combination with contributions that happen on GitLab.com. Combining the offline & online contributions in a single program is challenging but necessary.
Similar to “MVP” or other award ceremonies, we will select wider community members on a monthly basis that went above and beyond in community participation. This could go from speakers at large events to moderators in our forum or other activities. Individuals that positively talk about & evangelize GitLab and have a large reach, should be awarded and recognized. This is comparable to the (former) GitLab heroes program. In time, we should strive for automation where possible.
The portal through which we will review this data will be Common Room. Activities reviewed could be, but are not limited to:
Due to the sensitive nature of this phase, we’re looking for feedback on these ideas from multiple angles over at https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/community-relations/contributor-success/team-task/-/issues/248
Award: Organization of the month
Award: “The Sid Sijbrandij award” - Yearly
Wider community members that hold a public event with > 20 participants or speak at an event about GitLab can request swag to be sent to their location. We will compile a package in advance and ship these in the same automated way as we ship our swag today (coupons). In the past this required manual hand holding, and was fairly slow. By streamlining this and providing 2 tiers for public gatherings, we should be able to save a considerable amount of time processing these requests.
This phase needs further discussion and validation if meetups are still the preferred way to grow the grassroots movement.
As contributors start to accumulate points, we need to reward active and recent behavior. On the user profile you should be able to see the current score of the person as it relates to the last 3 completed months. Another section should exist to show the total history.
